Hey, content!
This is (part of) a reworked opening for the whole megillah. What's in the OP works as a premise starter, but it lacks... oomph. This should read better. There's more on the way as I work on it, including some moments before the Event on both sides of the multiversal barrier (introducing one of my favorite characters from TL-191!), and that'll be added as it comes in. --Mal
ETA: I should note that this is aimed at a US-shift scenario, but can be tweaked to fit a world-shift if Consensus goes that way. --Mal
Korolev Air Force Base, Luna
19 November 2016, 00:01 LST
The dimensional incursion detector on Sora’s workbench warbled, the diagnostic screen filling with information. The warble became a screech, and as Sora hastily reached to cut the power it died with a flash and a puff of smoke.
“GAH!” Sora yelped; the dying act of the detector burning her fingertips. “Itte...”
Mal stuck his head back in the workroom door. “You okay, Sora?”
“Yeah, yeah... just a little singed.”
“What happened?”
“It blew up on me!”
“Isn’t that what Kohran’s inventions usually do?” Mal asked. Sora gave him a dirty look.
“This one shouldn’t have. It’s been tested and we both certified it bug-free. Furthermore-”
What Sora was about to say was cut off by the base alarm system going off at full blast. “Attention all personnel,” GLaDOS’s voice sounded, “VVS datasystems are under class one infowar attack. Network lockdown initiated. Central Committee please report to the situation room. All non-essential personnel are to remain at Condition Two status. Repeat, VVS datasystems are under class one infowar attack. Network lockdown initiated. Central Committee please report to the situation room.”
Mal and Sora looked at each other, and he slammed down on the nearest intercom button. “GLaDOS, sitrep,” Mal ordered.
“General, your presence is required in the situation room.”
“I got that part. Summary please.”
“At zero-hundred hours VVS datasystems lost major internet connectivity on the terrestrial backbone. I concluded the network was under denial-of-service attack and sounded Condition Two. A full briefing will be available in the situation room.”
“Zero-hundred hours...” Sora looked thoughfully at the broken incursion detector.
“I don’t like what you’re thinking,” Mal said.
“Neither do I. GLaDOS, please grab the raw data from the laptop on my bench and move it into a navigational database accessible from the situation room, thank you.”
“Easier done than said, O Captain. Anything else? Doors opened?”
“Yes, please. Call Stellvia, priority channel. I need to talk to Kohran.”
Main Operations Center, Stellvia Station
The first indication anyone had that anything was wrong was when the DQS alarm went off. The second indication was when the DQS detector exploded.
“What the hell did you do, Ray?!”
“Not my fault, I swear to God it’s not my fault.” The duty officer thumbed the intercom. “Commander Scott and Engineer Li to Ops.”
Kohran was the first to arrive, as the duty tech finished emptying a fire extinguisher on the abused DQS detection console. “Wah!” she cried. “What happened?!”
“Don’t know, ma’am,” the duty officer replied. “The DQS alarm went off and a second later the console blew up. Other than making sure there was no fire, we haven’t touched it.”
“Blew up?” Kohran said, confused. “It’s not supposed to do that. Let me take a look,” she said, scooting under the damaged console, tools in hand.
Noah Scott strode into the operations center. “Report.”
The duty officer swiveled her display so Noah could see. “Three minutes ago we had a massive DQS event. It was big enough that it fried the sensor.”
“Damn. Where in the station is the incursion?”
“We’re not sure it’s in the station, sir. Best we can determine is that it’s somewhere within two light-seconds of Stellvia. Beyond that...” the duty officer shook her head.
Noah paled. “Two light-seconds...” he said, staring at the screen, “for the incursion to burn out the sensors from that far away it must have been huge. Get Miyuri and Takami up here - I want an analysis of the data the sensor returned just before it burned out. We’ve got to find this thing, people.”
Safety drifted up to Noah’s ear. “Noah-san, VVS Korolev is on priority channel one, they want to speak with Kohran-san.”
Noah sat down and unlocked his private workstation. “I’ll take it here, Safety,” he said. Clicking on the monitor: “Hello, Mal.”
“Sorry Dad, wrong Soviet.”
Noah blinked. “Sora?”
“Do you have any other Red daughters I don’t know about?”
“What’s wrong?”
“I need to talk to Kohran, please.”
“She’s a little busy, and we’re in the middle--”
“Of a huge dimensional incursion event a couple of minutes ago?” Sora asked.
“How did you know that?”
Sora smiled. “Come on, Dad, you didn’t think Kohran wouldn’t share with her neechan?”
Noah didn’t have a good comeback to that one, so he let it slide. “Is this something I can help you with?” he asked.
A muffled voice from behind Sora: (“What’s the holdup?”)
(“It’s Noah; Kohran’s busy,”) Sora replied. Then, to Noah: “Dad, we need your DQS readings, can you squirt it to us? I’m going to see if Kohran’s interferometer idea works and try to triangulate the event location.”
Noah glanced at Safety, who nodded sharply. “Data’s on the way, Sora.” he said.
Sora looked offscreen. “Got it,” she said. “Thanks, Dad. I’m running the results now.” She dropped out of view, leaving Noah face to face with Mal Fnord.
Noah found himself at a bit of a loss. “So, um,” he said, “how are things over there?”
“Hectic,” Mal replied dryly. “You?”
“Much the same.” The briefest of awkward pauses. “Do we know what we’re dealing with here?”
Mal paused. “Not yet. We have some really bad suspicions, but we’re running the data before panicking.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” Mal paused again, this time for longer. “Just after the incursion detector blew up, GLaDOS saw a huge chunk of the Internet backbone go missing.”
Noah ran the implications of that through his mind. “Oh,” he said faintly, “that’s not good.”
Mal nodded. “No it isn’t, which is why I want confirmation before--”
Sora popped back up into frame, eyes wide and face just as pale as her father’s. “I’ve got a location,” she said shakily. “The event epicenter w-was Earth, longitude 39 degrees, 50 minutes north, latitude 98 degrees, 35 minutes west. The approximate radius of effect was 2100 kilometers.”
Dead silence on both ends of the line.
“Well, fuck.” Mal said it with deep feeling.
“In accordance with the rules set down in the Articles of Convention,” Noah said heavily, “I am calling an emergency SMOFCon and Convention, to be held immediately.”
Mal nodded, eyes grim. “You round up the troops, I’m going to start recon, get some data on what’s going down. Be sure to get everybody, Noah. No stragglers.”
“Everybody?”
“Everybody. As Buckaroo might say, right now we’re all on the Global Frequency.”
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
This is (part of) a reworked opening for the whole megillah. What's in the OP works as a premise starter, but it lacks... oomph. This should read better. There's more on the way as I work on it, including some moments before the Event on both sides of the multiversal barrier (introducing one of my favorite characters from TL-191!), and that'll be added as it comes in. --Mal
ETA: I should note that this is aimed at a US-shift scenario, but can be tweaked to fit a world-shift if Consensus goes that way. --Mal
Korolev Air Force Base, Luna
19 November 2016, 00:01 LST
The dimensional incursion detector on Sora’s workbench warbled, the diagnostic screen filling with information. The warble became a screech, and as Sora hastily reached to cut the power it died with a flash and a puff of smoke.
“GAH!” Sora yelped; the dying act of the detector burning her fingertips. “Itte...”
Mal stuck his head back in the workroom door. “You okay, Sora?”
“Yeah, yeah... just a little singed.”
“What happened?”
“It blew up on me!”
“Isn’t that what Kohran’s inventions usually do?” Mal asked. Sora gave him a dirty look.
“This one shouldn’t have. It’s been tested and we both certified it bug-free. Furthermore-”
What Sora was about to say was cut off by the base alarm system going off at full blast. “Attention all personnel,” GLaDOS’s voice sounded, “VVS datasystems are under class one infowar attack. Network lockdown initiated. Central Committee please report to the situation room. All non-essential personnel are to remain at Condition Two status. Repeat, VVS datasystems are under class one infowar attack. Network lockdown initiated. Central Committee please report to the situation room.”
Mal and Sora looked at each other, and he slammed down on the nearest intercom button. “GLaDOS, sitrep,” Mal ordered.
“General, your presence is required in the situation room.”
“I got that part. Summary please.”
“At zero-hundred hours VVS datasystems lost major internet connectivity on the terrestrial backbone. I concluded the network was under denial-of-service attack and sounded Condition Two. A full briefing will be available in the situation room.”
“Zero-hundred hours...” Sora looked thoughfully at the broken incursion detector.
“I don’t like what you’re thinking,” Mal said.
“Neither do I. GLaDOS, please grab the raw data from the laptop on my bench and move it into a navigational database accessible from the situation room, thank you.”
“Easier done than said, O Captain. Anything else? Doors opened?”
“Yes, please. Call Stellvia, priority channel. I need to talk to Kohran.”
Main Operations Center, Stellvia Station
The first indication anyone had that anything was wrong was when the DQS alarm went off. The second indication was when the DQS detector exploded.
“What the hell did you do, Ray?!”
“Not my fault, I swear to God it’s not my fault.” The duty officer thumbed the intercom. “Commander Scott and Engineer Li to Ops.”
Kohran was the first to arrive, as the duty tech finished emptying a fire extinguisher on the abused DQS detection console. “Wah!” she cried. “What happened?!”
“Don’t know, ma’am,” the duty officer replied. “The DQS alarm went off and a second later the console blew up. Other than making sure there was no fire, we haven’t touched it.”
“Blew up?” Kohran said, confused. “It’s not supposed to do that. Let me take a look,” she said, scooting under the damaged console, tools in hand.
Noah Scott strode into the operations center. “Report.”
The duty officer swiveled her display so Noah could see. “Three minutes ago we had a massive DQS event. It was big enough that it fried the sensor.”
“Damn. Where in the station is the incursion?”
“We’re not sure it’s in the station, sir. Best we can determine is that it’s somewhere within two light-seconds of Stellvia. Beyond that...” the duty officer shook her head.
Noah paled. “Two light-seconds...” he said, staring at the screen, “for the incursion to burn out the sensors from that far away it must have been huge. Get Miyuri and Takami up here - I want an analysis of the data the sensor returned just before it burned out. We’ve got to find this thing, people.”
Safety drifted up to Noah’s ear. “Noah-san, VVS Korolev is on priority channel one, they want to speak with Kohran-san.”
Noah sat down and unlocked his private workstation. “I’ll take it here, Safety,” he said. Clicking on the monitor: “Hello, Mal.”
“Sorry Dad, wrong Soviet.”
Noah blinked. “Sora?”
“Do you have any other Red daughters I don’t know about?”
“What’s wrong?”
“I need to talk to Kohran, please.”
“She’s a little busy, and we’re in the middle--”
“Of a huge dimensional incursion event a couple of minutes ago?” Sora asked.
“How did you know that?”
Sora smiled. “Come on, Dad, you didn’t think Kohran wouldn’t share with her neechan?”
Noah didn’t have a good comeback to that one, so he let it slide. “Is this something I can help you with?” he asked.
A muffled voice from behind Sora: (“What’s the holdup?”)
(“It’s Noah; Kohran’s busy,”) Sora replied. Then, to Noah: “Dad, we need your DQS readings, can you squirt it to us? I’m going to see if Kohran’s interferometer idea works and try to triangulate the event location.”
Noah glanced at Safety, who nodded sharply. “Data’s on the way, Sora.” he said.
Sora looked offscreen. “Got it,” she said. “Thanks, Dad. I’m running the results now.” She dropped out of view, leaving Noah face to face with Mal Fnord.
Noah found himself at a bit of a loss. “So, um,” he said, “how are things over there?”
“Hectic,” Mal replied dryly. “You?”
“Much the same.” The briefest of awkward pauses. “Do we know what we’re dealing with here?”
Mal paused. “Not yet. We have some really bad suspicions, but we’re running the data before panicking.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” Mal paused again, this time for longer. “Just after the incursion detector blew up, GLaDOS saw a huge chunk of the Internet backbone go missing.”
Noah ran the implications of that through his mind. “Oh,” he said faintly, “that’s not good.”
Mal nodded. “No it isn’t, which is why I want confirmation before--”
Sora popped back up into frame, eyes wide and face just as pale as her father’s. “I’ve got a location,” she said shakily. “The event epicenter w-was Earth, longitude 39 degrees, 50 minutes north, latitude 98 degrees, 35 minutes west. The approximate radius of effect was 2100 kilometers.”
Dead silence on both ends of the line.
“Well, fuck.” Mal said it with deep feeling.
“In accordance with the rules set down in the Articles of Convention,” Noah said heavily, “I am calling an emergency SMOFCon and Convention, to be held immediately.”
Mal nodded, eyes grim. “You round up the troops, I’m going to start recon, get some data on what’s going down. Be sure to get everybody, Noah. No stragglers.”
“Everybody?”
“Everybody. As Buckaroo might say, right now we’re all on the Global Frequency.”
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"